The invention relates generally to the remote control of motor vehicles by law enforcement officers, and more particularly to the selective control of motor vehicles in emergency situations.
Since the invention of the automobile, high-speed pursuits have been a fact of life. Many police officers, criminal suspects and innocent motorists/pedestrians are killed or injured annually when criminals attempt to avoid arrest by trying to outrun police vehicles. In the past police officers have discharged firearms at fleeing vehicles, used spike belts to flatten tires, rammed suspect vehicles to force them off the road, and used other desperate measures. These have met with little success, and most methods attempted have proved extremely dangerous to those involved.
The dilemma faced by authorities is that they have no way to effectively apprehend the motoring criminal without endangering the general public, yet they have a sworn duty to stop dangerous drivers and remove them from the road. Many devices have been tried over the years, but with minimal success. The most popular and enduring was the spike belt, a rubber mat containing a number of sharp spikes which, when stretched across the roadway, would deflate some or all the tires on a suspect vehicle. The only problem was that the police seldom managed to get ahead of the suspect as their vehicles were not fast enough and the suspect""s direction of travel was seldom predictable. They could lay out spike belts where it appeared the suspect might go, only to have the target vehicle take another route. This method, although still in use, is in danger of losing what little effect it has because of a new type of tire that cannot be deflated. The police have a serious problem. They have to stop speeding vehicles from endangering the public, but they have no safe and effective way of doing it.
U.S. Pat No. 4,660,528 which issued to Gene Buck on Apr. 28, 1987, describes an RF transmitter for terminating the normal operation of a selected motor vehicle by curtailing the vehicle""s fuel supply or removing ignition voltage to the engine. The vehicle receiver is tuned to a frequency and code specific to its license plate indicia which is very unreliable when one is dealing with stolen vehicles bearing stolen license plates. As well, police officers pursuing vehicles at high speeds often are unable to visually obtain a license number.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,353 which issued to Kermith Thomson on May 25, 1971 describes a fuel cutoff device activated by remote radio transmission. The radio transmission is not vehicle specific, thereby causing all vehicles within radio range to be immobilized if they are equipped with the cutoff mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,728 which issued to Pagliaroli et al on Jan. 4, 1994 outlines a system for disabling or enabling an automobile via signals transmitted over cellular telephone networks. This method can only be used in areas with cellular coverage; once again, the target vehicle can only be identified by license number which is unreliable if obtainable.
Canadian Patent Application No.2214907 filed on Oct. 28, 1997 by Canie et al and opened to public inspection on Apr.28, 1999 describes a remote means of interrupting the fuel supply of a target vehicle by using a hand-held laser gun. Once again, this device is not vehicle specific and has failed to gain credibility with either legislators or the police community.
None of the foregoing describe a system capable of pinpointing one specific vehicle in heavy freeway traffic, then slowing it down and stopping it safely without affecting or endangering nearby traffic.
Therefore, there remains an acute need for a system which police can use to selectively control motor vehicles in emergency situations such as in high-speed pursuits.
The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for remotely identifying and/or controlling vehicles. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a targeted vehicle being pursued through traffic may be apprehended by first identifying the vehicles in the vicinity of the targeted vehicle, following the targeted vehicle until it is the only vehicle remaining of the originally identified vehicles, and then apprehending the targeted vehicle. This process may also be carried out by first identifying a select group of vehicles using vehicle descriptor limitations.
The system for remotely controlling a vehicle in accordance with the present invention comprises a control unit which would normally be located in a police car and vehicle modules which are installed in motor vehicles. The control unit transmits activate commands to the vehicle modules which respond by either transmitting back a visual signal or an electronic signal. The control unit may also transmit control commands to the vehicle modules to control the operation of the vehicle. The activate control commands may include a vehicle xe2x80x9cFindxe2x80x9d command and/or a vehicle xe2x80x9cFlashxe2x80x9d command. The vehicle xe2x80x9cFindxe2x80x9d command seeks an electronic response identifying a vehicle by it descriptors which may include vehicle VIN, vehicle type, vehicle color and vehicle make. The vehicle xe2x80x9cFlashxe2x80x9d command initiates a visual indicator response from the vehicle such as the operation of its four-way flashers. The control commands include a vehicle xe2x80x9cSlowxe2x80x9d command for causing the vehicle to slow down, a vehicle xe2x80x9cStopxe2x80x9d command for causing the vehicle to stop and a vehicle xe2x80x9cResetxe2x80x9d command for resetting the vehicle module.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the vehicle module may include communications circuits for receiving commands from the control unit and for transmitting to the control unit, a processor for processing the commands, memory associated with the processor for storing descriptors of the vehicle in which the module is installed and a controller for controlling the vehicle visual indicator and a vehicle control in response to the commands. The vehicle visual indicator may be the four-way flashers. The vehicle control may be the vehicle ignition circuits and/or fuel system.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the control unit may include communications circuits for transmitting command signals to the vehicle, a processor for processing the transmitted signals, a memory associated with the processor and an interface for providing instructions to the processor. The interface may include input devices for providing vehicle descriptors to the control unit processor for encoding into the transmitted command signals and input devices for providing activate and control commands to the control unit processor for encoding into the transmitted command signals.
In accordance with more specific aspects of the invention, the interface may include a keyboard for inputting instructions to the processor and a display screen for displaying the vehicle descriptor received from a vehicle. In addition, the interface may include a cartridge slot and a removable panic button cartridge which is used to communicate with the control unit to provide it with limited specific instructions to transmit command signals to a vehicle. The control unit interface further includes data receiving device for receiving data from a central computer. The data receiving device can take the form of a coupler for connecting a cable to the central computer, a disc drive for receiving a data disc or a wireless transceiver for receiving signals from a central computer.
In accordance with a further aspect of this invention, a method of using the remote control system includes the steps of transmitting activate command signals to the vehicles in the vicinity of the targeted vehicle and receiving their response, following the targeted vehicle until it is the only vehicle responding to the activate command signal and then controlling the operation of the targeted vehicle by a control command signal. The response given by the targeted vehicle to the activate signal may include a visual response or an electronic response providing the vehicle""s descriptors.
A further method for remotely controlling vehicles in traffic may include transmitting activate command signals to the vehicles in the vicinity of the control unit to activate the vehicles"" visual indicators. which may be followed by a command to control the operation of the targeted vehicle by a control command signal which may be a vehicle xe2x80x9cSlowxe2x80x9d command for causing the vehicle to slow down and a vehicle xe2x80x9cStopxe2x80x9d command for causing the vehicle to stop.
A method for remotely identifying vehicles in traffic may include transmitting activate command signals to the vehicles in the vicinity of the control unit to cause the vehicles to transmit their vehicle descriptors to the control unit.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.